Yet Victor Vaz chose to make the intellectually disabled hunger for the win, for a gold medal and create world class special athletes...
From 85 medals to 105 and then 148 medals. Believe it ornot, while India’s Olympic medal tally may not be having much to write about,it is India’s Special Olympics Team that is vowing the world. And their coachis an athlete and footballer who chose to see special people sprint ahead,shoot goals and even wave from the podium.
For Victor Vaz, a Mechanical Engineer by profession but anace long distance runner by nature, the entry into the Special Olympicsmovement was happened over a delivery of parcel. “I had just gone to deliver aparcel to Edna Miranda Souza, the founder of Bharat Special Olympics Trust inGoa and the tryst with some of the most beautiful people in the world began”recollects. Special Olympics are meant for people with intellectualdisabilities, who are encouraged to join for the physical activity, which helpslower the rate of cardiovascular disease and obesity. The intellectuallydisabled or the special people also gain emotionally and psychologically,including self-confidence, social competence, and the building of greaterathletic skills and higher self-esteem.
“The movement is for anybody who has an IQ of less than 70”explains Victor, who true to his name enables the ‘special people’ to becomeace footballers, roller skaters, athletes, cyclists and an endless list ofspecial sportsmen in different disciplines. While society dubs these people asmad, Victor feels otherwise. “You can cure madness with medicine, the specialpeople’s condition has no medicine” he says unfazed. Try feeling sorry for hisathletes and his eyes flash with anger “they don’t need your sympathy. Empathywill do.” And his faith in their abilities not only increased India’s medalhaul in the International Olympic arena but also created a powerhouse ofathletic talent. Today, India has over 9 lakh special athletes, with 4000coming from Goa alone.
But Victor does not make society’s concern for the specialAthletes an emotional cause. “We realised that many of these sportsmen andwomen wanted to give back to the system what it gave to them,” says Victor, theNational Sports Director for Special Olympics Bharat. The result “ 18 specialathletes have been certified to become Football Coaching Assistants, aftergrueling physical and written tests. This, for the first time in India. Somedaythese assistants would take on the role of training of fellow athletes ascoaches even feels Vaz.
A chance encounter that became a lifelong obsession has itstrappings. “My little daughter grew up to be a dentist seeing her father awayfor weeks in foreign lands and awake at late night communicating acrossdifferent time zones” reminisces Victor. Something for which he has no regretsas he says “every new athlete that we welcome into the moment is our way ofsaying that we are as good as you and growing and are not stopping”. For theman who chose to make the wingless fly, only success makes him cry.
